Dumping mechanism for conveyers.



Patented .Sept. 25, I900.

A. L. LE GRAND. DUMPING MECHANISM-FOR couvzvans.

(Application filed May 10, 1900.)

(No Model.)

Y Norms PETERS co,mo'ro-n.rmo..wnsnma1on n c iE STATES PATENT Cl nics.

AUGUSTUS L. LE GRAND, OF WEST PITTSTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN N. THOMAS, OF SAME PLACE.

DUlVlPlNG MECHANISM FOR CONVEYERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 658,656, dated September 25, 1900.

Application filed May 10, 1900. Serial No. 16,201- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: load, first, by reason of the inversion of the Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS L. LE GRAND, bucket, and, second, by the bodily movement acitizen of the United States,residing at West of the bucket with the conveyer. 55 Pittston, in the county of Luzerne and State A further object of the invention is to pro of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and vide a novel bucket supporting and bracing useful Dumping Mechanism for Oonveyers, device serving the dual function of a bucketof which the followingis a specification. support and of means cooperating with the The invention relates to dumping mechandumping-cam to eifect the dumping of each 60 ism for bucket conveyors, and is designed bucket as it is presented to the cam at the IQ more particularly with reference to conveydumping-station by the movement of the ers of that type which are distinguished by conveyer. the assembling in endless series of gravity Still further but subordinate objects of the conveyer-buckets employed for the conveyinvention will hereinafter appear as the ne- 65 ance of coal, dirt, and various other matecessity for theiraccomplishment is developed rials. Various forms of dumping mechanisms in the succeeding description.

for gravity-bucket conveyers have been de- In the accompanying drawings, in which I vised, notably that form which comprehends have illustrated the preferred embodiment of one or more fixed trips arranged in the path my invention, Figure l is a sectional view 70 of a projection carried by the bucket below throughaportion ofan endless gravity-bucket its pivotal support; also, that form which conveyer, illustrating the construction and comprehends the employment of a trip-cam mounting of the conveyer and the construclocated below the conveyer and in the path tion and operation of the dumping mechanof the lower corners of the buckets. There ism. Fig. 2 is a sectional view, in an angu- 75 are many valid objections to these well-known lar plane, through the dumpi ng-station, showtypes of dumping devices, not the least of ing the trip-bars down and one of the buckwhich is the injury to the mounting incident ets about to be tripped. Fig. 3 is a detail end to the violent impact of theloaded bucket as view of one of the buckets. it strikes the dumping-trip. A further ob- Referring to the numerals of reference em- 80 jection is the discharge of the load in the diployed to designate corresponding partsin the rection of movement of the conveyer, necesseveral views, 1 indicates the drive-shaft, and sitating an equally-violent reversal of the 2 one of the driving-sprockets keyed thereon bucket to prevent scattering of the load, to support and'drive one of the endless chains which would result from the fact that the 3, which constitute an endless flexible sup- 85 bucket is moved by the conveyer in the diport for a series of gravity-buckets 4, jourrection of the discharging load. naled intermediate of said chains. The con- Further imperfections in the art might be veyer chains or sections 3 may be of any depointed out, but the foregoing is deemed to sired form so far as their use as elements of be sufficient to indicate those conditions my invention in its broadest aspect is con- 90 which have led to the origination of the prescorned; butIprefer to em ployapair of chains 40 ent mechanism, the primary object of the the links of which are composed of parallel present invention being to provide a simple plates 5, overlapping at their ends to receive yet durable dumping element, cam, or trip transverse bars or pintles 6, constituting the arranged to be thrown into or out of operafulcrums for rollers 7, engaging peripheral re- 5 tive relation to the conveyer by the operator cesses 8 in the sprockets 2 and serving as antiand related to cooperating elements, cranks, frictional bgarings or supports for the horior levers in a manner to cause the conveyerzontal portions of the conveyer, ways ortracks bucket to be inverted by a movement in the 9 being preferably provided for the support direction of movement of the conveyer to efof such horizontal portions or runs of the conloo fect the discharge of the load in the direcveyer. The conveyer-bucketse are mounted tion opposite to the direction of said moveupon each alternate pintle or transverse bar nient, the effect of this manipulation of the of the conveyer, or, more properly, their pivbucket being to cause its withdrawal from the otal points of suspensionare' in axial alinement with opposed alternate pintles of the conveyer-chains.

The construction and arrangement of the bucket-supporting devices constitute one of the novel features of the present invention related front and rear. orside walls 12, which 4 diverge upwardly from the opposite edges of the bottom 11 to form a receptacle or bucket of flaring form. Each end of the bucket is supported, braced, and stiffened byabracketplate 13, composed of three diverging arms 14, 15, and 16, the armsl-l and 15 extending from a point adjacent to the upper edge of the bucket at its center in directions at right angles to the walls 12 of the bucket and having their extremities 17 bent at right. angles to engage the inclined walls of the bucket, which latter is therefore retained between the ends of the arms 14 and 15 with a wedging action-that is to say, the walls 12 of the bucket being downwardly convergent and resting upon the similarly-inclined ends of the supporting arms or plates of the brackets 13 tend to seat; the bucket more securely in proportion to the weight of the bucket and its contents. As an additional security, however, the supporting-brackets may be bolted, riveted, or otherwise secured to the buckets.

The third arm 16 of each of the brackets 13 extends vertically above the bucket from the juncture of the arms 14 and 15, and each arm 16 is provided at its upperend with a stud 18, upon which is journaled a trip-roller 19, designed for a purpose which will presently appear. At that comparatively-heavy portion of each of the brackets 13 formed by the juncture of the arms 14, 15, and 16 extends an integral or otherwise fixed pintle 20, which serves as one of the link-connecting bars 6 and supports one of the conveyer-rollers 7 of the contiguous chain or section of the endless conveyer. Thus it will appear that these bucket-supporting brackets or plates com prehend means for supporting-the bucket, fo'r stiffening its ends, for bracing its inclined walls, for connectingthe bucket toalined pintles of the conveyor-chains, and for supporting a trip-roller at a point above the bucket and eccentric to its pivotal mounting. Obviously, however, these supporting-brackets would constitute simple and elfective means for supportim. and bracing the bucket-in connections which would not require the use of the trip-arms 16, inasmuch as the divergent arms 14 and 15 would still perform their functions as supporting members and would constitute hangers supported by the conveyor? pintles for the purpose of pivotally retaining the buckets between the chains or sections of the endless conveyor.

As thus far described the apparatus comprehends an endless conveyer composed of chains orside sect-ions suitablysupported and driven and carrying an endless series of intermediate pivotally-suspended buckets,each of which is provided at each end with upwardly-extending triparmscarryingtrip-rollers. The apparatus thus far described is designed to convey coal, coke, slate, dirt, and Various other materials which are intended to be (lumped from each of the buckets as they arrive at the point of delivery, which point is known in the artas a dumping-station. Oneofthesedumping-stationsisillustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings and comprehends a supporting-frame 21, of any suitable character, preferably composed of standards or uprights 22, located beyond the opposite sides of the conveyer and supporting crossbeams 23, to the under sides of which are bolted or otherwise fixed two pairs of angleiron guide rails or Ways, (indicated by the numerals 2i and 25.) The ways formed between these rails are located directly above the paths of movement of the trip-rollers 19 of each bucket and serve to guide the cam-bars 2 6 and 27 of a pivoted trip 28, made up of twin frames, each of which is composed of an operatinglever 29, from which the cam-bars depend, said frames being connected by transverse bolts 30 and by a shaft 31, journaled in the guide-rails 24 and 25 and pivotally supporting the trip. 32 and 33 indicate lateral stop-lugs projecting from each of the cam-bars 26 and 27 and designed to rest upon the guide-rails 24 and 25 to limit the downward movementof the trip for the purpose of properly presenting the cam or trip bars in the paths of the trip-rollers. Any suitable means for fixing the dumping-trip in its operative and inoperative positions may be provided-as, for instance, a series of trans- 'verse apertures 34 in the guide-rails for the reception of a pin 35, which in the depressed or effective position of the trip is designed to pass through an opening 36 in one of the tripbars and to be located under one of said bars to retain the trip in its elevated or inoperative position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The operation of my device is as follows;

Supposing the structure to be organized and arranged as illustrated in Fig. l of the drawings and the conveyer to be moving, the triprcller 19 of the bucket just in the rear of the dumping-station will be presented to the cam or trip bars 26 and 27, and the continued movement of theconveyer will cause the triparms 16 to be swung rearwardly, which will cause the bucket to be swung in the direction of movement of the conveyer. As the bucket proceeds under the trip it will be held for a in a direction opposite to such movement, and the progress of the conveyer will serve to withdraw the bucket from the load being discharged, as contradistinguished from the movement of the bucket in the general direction of the discharge, as is ordinary during the dumping operation of devices of this character. Ordinarily a number of these dumping-stations are employed in connection with each conveyer, and when it is not desired to effect the dumping of the buckets at any particular station the operator simply removes the locking-pin 35 and swings the trip to its elevated position by means of the operating-levers 29, where it is retained by the insertion of the pin 35 in another of the series of apertures 34, as will be obvious.

It may be well at this point to call attention to the fact that the trip-arm is not carried by the bucket in a manner to cause a violent jar upon the pintle, as in the ordinary structures, but is rigid with the pintle, so that the only effect of the more or less violent presentation of the trip-arms to the trips is to rotate the pintle within the bearings provided for it in theplates and rollers of the chains, and, further, that the discharge of the load in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the conveyer facilitates the dumping and decreases the strain on the conveyer by the bodily Withd rawal of the bucket from the load as it is being discharged therefrom.

From the foregoing it will be observed that l have produced a simple,durable, and highlyefficient dumping apparatus for gravitybucket conveyers; but while the present embodiment of my invention appears at this time to be preferable I do not desire to limit myself to the precise construction illustrated, as it is obvious that many structural modifications and variations might be effected without departing from the invention as comprehended within the scope of the appended claims.

\Vhat I claim is 1. The combination with a conveyer-bucket, of a supporting-plate bracing the end of the bucket and engaging the side walls thereof, and a pintle extending from the supportingplate.

2. In a conveyer, the combination with a pair of chains composed of pivoted links, of pintles comprising connectors for the links, bucket-supporting plates suspended from and integral with the adjacent ends of the pintles, and buckets carried by the bucket-supporting plates and located wholly between the inner ends of the pintles.

3. The combination with a conveyer-bucket, of a supporting-plate having angularly-disposed arms bracing the end of the bucket and engaging the inclined side walls thereof, and a pintle extending from the supporting-plate, whereby the supporting plate constitutes means for connecting the bucket to its pintle and serves to brace and stifien the bucket structure.

4. The combination with a bucket having straight end walls and inclined side walls, of supporting-plates located against the ends of the bucket, each of said plates comprising a pair of arms having their extremities bent into engagement with the inclined side walls of the bucket and a trip-arm, a pintle rigid with each supporting-plate and extending from the juncture of the arms of said plate, whereby said plates serve to stiffen the bucket structure and to constitute trip devices and connectors between the bucket and pintles.

5. The combination wit-h an endless conveyer comprising supporting-rollers, and a series of pivotally-mounted gravity-buckets, of trip-arms extending upwardly from the ends of each bucket, a dumping-station comprising a supporting-frame under which the conveyer passes, and a pivoted trip comprising a pair of trip-levers provided with depending, cam-shaped trip-bars, and means for retainin g said trip in its elevated and depressed positions to permit the passage of said buckets through the loading-station without interference, or to obstruct the path of movement of the trip-arms for the purpose of dumping the contents of the buckets in a direction op posite to the direction of movement of the conveyer.

6. The combination with a conveyer comprising a pair of chains, gravity-buckets located between the chains and provided with terminal pintles constituting link-connecting devices for the chains, rollers mounted upon each of said pintles, trip-arms extending upwardly from the pintles and having terminal antifriction-rollers, a dumping-station comprising a supporting-frame and guide-bars, a pivoted trip comprising a pair of depending trip-bars guided by the guide-bars of the station and arranged to obstruct the path of movement of the trip-rollers, and locking means for retaining the trip in its operative or inoperative positions.

7. The combination with a conveyer comprising a series of buckets,of trip-arms extending upwardly from the ends of each bucket, a dumping-station comprising a supportingframe under which the conveyer passes, a movable trip provided with depending tripbars, and means for retaining said trip in its elevated and depressed positions to permit the passage of said buckets through the loading-station without interference, or to obstruct the path of movement of the trip-arms for the purpose of dumping the contents of the buckets.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto'affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS L. LE GRAND.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL O. WEBB, HENRY GAUPP. 

